Carton opener



July 15,1941. P. H. UNSINGER- CARTON OPENER;

Filed April 12, 1939 Patented July 15, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CARTON OPENER Philip H. Unsinger, Fremont, Ohio Application April 12, 1939, Serial No. 267,456

1 Claim.

invention in operative position as cutting a cardboard carton;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the device from the right of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the device from the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view of the device with the plates or holder portion opened out to show the blade position therein;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 in which one of the plate portions has a hinged or ofiset section in position for its flange to shield the blade protruding portion; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 3 wherein the straight or unfianged ofiset is hinged and can move into blade protecting position parallel thereto.

Carton l of cardboard, corrugated board, or other material, say as for handling bulk material such as foodstuffs, washing compounds, or other articles about home or factory, is a container normally sealed and as to which it is not desirable to rip or tear or rupture in any manner which might be hurtful to the contents or detract from desirability of retaining the container for an unused portion of the contents. The course adopted is to cut into a portion or fully about the container a short distance from a corner 2 so as to be just below the top. With the device as herein disclosed either of such methods, or a desired method as to a corner for even fractional cutting, may be effective.

To this end, hinge 3 has hinge plate portions 4, 5. From these countersunk or shallow portions are extensions. From the hinge portion 4 is triangular extension 6 terminating in an offset leaf portion 1. From the hinge portion 5, complementary to the triangular portion 6, is triangular extension 8 terminating in offset leaf portion 9 approximating equal plane with the offset 1, and coacting therewith to provide a guide. This offset 9 may be of a desired extent for clearing the thickness of a carton, say of corrugated board, and from this offset 9 is supplementary guide or flange Ill.

The portions 4, 5, as countersunk, provide a this ofiset 1 may be thrown into parallelism with I the projecting portion l6 of the blade and thus seat for back H of blade l2, say of safety razor I type, which may have terminal notches l3, and a central opening M, with which may cooperate boss I5 from the triangularextension or portion 8. In swinging these plate portions toward each other, the blade l2 has positive anchoring therein as a seat with projecting portion I6 therefrom between the guide portions I, 9 for the desired extent to penetrate the carton for cutting parallel to the flange H1. The hinges and triangular por-r seat. As the plate portions are moved toward each other overhangs ll, l8, serve as snap ears to retain the blade and holder in blade-retained position. In this form, the device is a single hinge holder and may be provided with openings l9 registering between the two triangular portions '6, 8, as an effective hanger therefor as on a nail or hook.

In the event the tool be one to be placed in the pocket or not to be hung up, it may be desirable to shield the projecting portion I6 of the blade. This may be efiectively accomplished by additional hinge 20 between the triangular extension 8 and the oifset 9, thereby permitting flange III to swing toward the ofiset 1 and thus locate the projecting blade portion I 6 away from wound ing position (Fig. 5).

Instead of hinging this flanged offset 9, III, there may be hinge 2| for the offset 1 so that Near the remote triangle, portion or extension 8 has claw or tongue 23 to cooperate with seatiornotch 24 of triangular portion 6 as a snap hook to retain the tool in closed working position.-

What is claimed and. it is desired to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

A holder embodying a pair of plate portions, a hinge connecting the plate portions to form a seat adapted to anchor a blade having a cutting edge parallel to the axis of the hinge with the blade projecting partially from the seat between the plate portions, said plate portions having leaves extending transversely of and at an angle to the plate portions to provide a plane extending laterally from the sides of the blade, said plane as extending toward the cutting edge having an acute angle to the direction of the axis of 

